Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-02-20 Briefing

Created Sat, 21 Feb 2026 02:03:18 +0000 Modified Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:36:25 +0000
8477 Words

The US Supreme Court invalidated President Trump’s global tariffs on imported goods, citing a lack of authority. Meanwhile, India joined the US-led Pax Silica initiative to secure technology supply chains amid growing competition with China. OpenAI staff had previously raised concerns about a Canadian mass shooting suspect interacting with its ChatGPT chatbot, but failed to inform authorities due to low reporting thresholds. In business news, Microsoft Gaming’s new CEO Asha Sharma and Xbox head Matt Booty have been promoted, while Google’s AI-powered security systems successfully blocked over 1.75 million policy-violating Android apps from being published on Google Play in 2025.

🤖 AI & Machine Learning

India joins US semiconductor supply chain security initiative.

India has joined the US-led Pax Silica initiative to build secure technology supply chains, strengthening cooperation on semiconductors and critical technologies amid growing competition with China. The move comes after India and the US reached a trade framework weeks ago, signaling a reset in relations following energy trade tensions. India’s entry into Pax Silica marks a strategic convergence of long-term technology and security cooperation between the two nations.

Young Indians drive ChatGPT usage.

OpenAI reports that users aged 18 to 24 in India account for nearly 50% of messages sent to ChatGPT, while under-30s represent 80%. Indians primarily use ChatGPT for work-related tasks, with 35% of chats related to professional activities. The platform has seen significant growth in its Indian market, with over 100 million weekly users.

Linux 7.0 Shows Significant PostgreSQL Performance Gains on AMD EPYC

Linux 7.0 has shown significant performance gains when running PostgreSQL database server benchmarks on an AMD EPYC Turin server compared to the stable Linux 6.19, likely due to optimized kernel code and compiler settings. The performance benefits were seen in various tests, indicating potential advantages for users of this hardware configuration.

Trump announces new 10% global tariff after raging over Supreme Court loss

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing a 10% global tariff on imports, replacing invalidated tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The move comes after the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate Trump’s previous tariffs and could lead to lower rates for countries with which the US had agreed to trade deals.

Uncovering insiders and alpha on Polymarket with AI

A recently published article on Polymarket discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to find insider information and make profitable trades, with one user sharing their process for doing so. The tool is based on Google search queries that may reveal inside information about various assets or products. However, the author of the post notes that this approach does not guarantee success and that actual profits are not guaranteed.

Ggml.ai joins Hugging Face to ensure the long-term progress of Local AI

Ggml.ai has partnered with Hugging Face to secure the long-term progress of Local AI, aiming to strengthen the open-source local AI community and provide better support for users in the field of artificial intelligence. The partnership is seen as a positive development for the ecosystem. This move will also bring benefits such as strong Python support for llama.cpp.

Nvidia and OpenAI abandon unfinished $100B deal in favour of $30B investment

Nvidia and OpenAI have abandoned an unfinished $100 billion deal in favour of a new $30 billion investment. The exact terms of the cancelled deal are not specified. No further details on the reasons for the change were provided by the article.

Accessibility Tool Built with AI and Machine Learning

A developer with spinal muscular atrophy has created an accessible scrolling tool for their Mac, using AI-powered coding tools like Claude Code and GSD to overcome limitations of existing solutions. The new tool greatly improves productivity for individuals with mobility impairments, enabling more efficient interaction with devices without the need for traditional input methods. By leveraging code-based solutions and AI efficiency, the developer has developed a solution tailored to their specific needs.

“AI Advancements Bring New Era of Ubiquity”

A tech startup, Taalas, has developed a platform that transforms AI models into custom silicon, aiming to overcome latency and cost barriers to widespread adoption, promising faster, cheaper, and lower power implementations that enable seamless human-AI collaboration and ubiquitous computing. The approach merges storage and computation on a single chip for radical simplification and total specialization. This technology has the potential to make AI more practical and accessible.

💻 Computer Security

US High Court Invalidates Trump’s Global Tariffs

The US Supreme Court ruled that President Trump lacked authority to impose sweeping global tariffs on imported goods, including exemptions for certain products from China and Mexico, limiting his ability to regulate imports and protect American industries. This decision is seen as a positive shift for the tech industry, as it reduced import duties on smartphones and servers. The ruling restricts the president’s power to safeguard American interests.

Evan Spiegel ousted Snap’s AR glasses chief after 6-year tenure.

Figma’s CEO Dylan Field discussed the company’s new integration with Anthropic ahead of its earnings call, citing an organic partnership driven by his vision for replicating model output across coding tools. The integration reflects Figma’s extensible infrastructure and desire to work with multiple players in the agentic coding landscape. Despite concerns about AI potentially rendering Figma redundant, Field pointed to existing partnerships with frontier labs using Figma to design their models.

“Google Engineers Indicted Over Chip Security Secrets”

Three Silicon Valley engineers, Samaneh Ghandali, Soroor Ghandali, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, have been indicted on multiple charges for allegedly stealing sensitive data related to processor security and cryptography from tech companies including Google, transferring it to Iran, and destroying evidence. The indictment alleges a scheme involving conspiracy, theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice.

Don’t create .gitkeep files, use .gitignore instead

Git should use .gitignore instead of creating a .gitkeep file to ensure a directory exists for fresh clones. Using a short .gitignore file with patterns that ignore all files except itself is a simpler and more reliable method. This technique allows the directory to be committed and tracked without requiring manual edits or potential confusion for other developers.

‘A Big Fuck You to Big Tech’: New Jersey Residents Defeat AI Data Center

Residents of New Brunswick, New Jersey have successfully opposed plans for an artificial intelligence data center, with the city council instead voting to build a new public park on the site. The decision was made due to concerns about environmental impact and rising costs, as well as opposition from local residents who feared increased electricity and water bills. The site is now set to include affordable housing units and warehouses for small businesses.

Mines.fyi – all the mines in the US in a leaflet visualization

A website has created an interactive leaflet visualization showcasing all active and abandoned mines in the United States, utilizing data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The platform provides detailed information about mine operators and locations across the country.

Blue light filters don’t work

Blue light filters do not effectively control sleep or circadian rhythms because they only address blue light sensitivity, rather than total luminance, which is a more effective approach to regulate the body’s internal clock and improve sleep quality. The suprachiasmatic nucleus, responsible for our master clock, responds to ambient light levels, not just blue light. Controlling total luminance is a better bet to improve sleep quality.

Why Is the American Diet So Deadly?

French HVAC technician Guillaume Raineri participated in a paid study at the National Institutes of Health to explore why Americans gain weight and develop chronic diseases despite access to healthy food. During the four-week study, he followed different diets with varying levels of processed foods, experiencing significant changes in physical symptoms such as heartburn and bloating. Researchers measured his metabolism and energy expenditure to understand the impact of the American diet on weight gain and disease development.

Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs

The US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that President Trump’s tariffs policies imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) are unconstitutional, striking down his signature economic policy. The court decision may require the government to refund billions of dollars in revenue collected from importers who paid the tariffs. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, concluding that Trump lacked peacetime authority to use IEPPA for tariffs.

Amazon service was taken down by AI coding bot

There is no article provided to summarize, only information about The Financial Times subscriptions.

📈 Business & Economy

OpenAI staff warned about Canadian mass shooting suspect months ago

OpenAI staff raised concerns about a Canadian mass shooting suspect in June after she described violent scenarios involving its ChatGPT chatbot, but the company decided not to inform authorities as her activity did not meet reporting thresholds. The suspect was later identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar in connection with a mass shooting in British Columbia, Canada.

Microsoft’s AI safety team proposes detection standards

Microsoft has proposed technical standards for detecting AI-generated content and manipulating digital information online, but its chief scientific officer Eric Horvitz declined to commit to using them on all Microsoft platforms. The company’s AI safety research team evaluated various methods and recommended combinations to verify authenticity, but the implementation of these standards is unclear. This comes amid growing concerns about AI-enabled deception in online content.

Be Wary of Bluesky

Bluesky’s decentralized protocol ATProto may not be as secure or user-friendly as claimed due to users’ data being stored primarily on Bluesky’s servers, limiting the ability to leave the platform. The growth of new ATProto apps increases dependence on Bluesky’s infrastructure and concentration of value within the network, leading to potential loss of control over personal data and increased vulnerability. This mirrors a similar issue that arose with Twitter, highlighting the challenges of decentralized systems.

Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

People across the US are destroying Flock surveillance cameras due to concerns over ICE connections and privacy violations. The sabotage has been reported in at least five states and follows a growing backlash against the technology’s ability to gather identifying data without a warrant. The destruction of 6,000 cameras has raised concerns about government overreach and individual freedoms.

And then? And then Mullvad was censored in the UK

The UK has escalated its censorship efforts, banning a TV ad from Mullvad, a VPN provider, due to vague grounds. The ad “And Then?” criticized the country’s policies on mass surveillance and censorship, sparking concerns about the government’s direction. This incident is part of a growing trend of increasing authoritarianism in the UK.

ICE agents could be banned from getting public jobs in N.J. for life

Lawmakers in New Jersey have introduced a bill that would ban some U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from holding public jobs in the state for life, if they served between 2025 and 2029. The legislation aims to prevent civil-rights violations by ICE personnel and is part of a broader package of laws aimed at protecting immigrant rights. If approved, it would apply to ICE agents who worked on aggressive enforcement campaigns in Democratic-led cities from September 1, 2025, to January 20, 2029.

Facebook is absolutely cooked

Facebook’s main feed has become overrun with AI-generated content, including low-quality and explicit posts, which have made the platform unpleasant for users, according to a recent experience shared by an individual. The author wonders if their algorithm or widespread user behavior is behind this issue, but suspects it may be a problem affecting daily Facebook users. This shift has led some users to abandon the platform altogether.

Tesla has to pay historic $243M judgement over Autopilot crash, judge says

A US federal judge has rejected Tesla’s bid to overturn a $243 million verdict over a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida, finding the company 33% liable for the death and severe injury. The ruling upholds the jury’s finding that Tesla was responsible for the crash, which killed Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend. Tesla has indicated it will appeal the verdict to a higher court.

Trump overstepped executive power by imposing tariffs, Supreme Court rules

The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that many tariffs imposed by President Trump during his presidency were illegal, as they exceeded his authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval. The court declared that the president lacks inherent authority to impose tariffs during peacetime and that Congress has sole authority under the constitution to levy taxes. Trump announced plans to enact new tariffs despite the ruling.

US Supreme Court rejects Trump’s global tariffs

The US Supreme Court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), handing him a significant defeat in a landmark case. The 6-3 decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld a lower court’s ruling that Trump exceeded his authority to impose tariffs. Trump announced he would pursue tariffs under different legal authorities despite losing the case.

Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs

The US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, ruling they are unconstitutional as a matter of text, history, and precedent, with Congress holding the taxation power. The 6-3 decision reverses a central plank of Trump’s economic agenda. Trump vowed to impose alternative tariffs while pressing his trade policies by other means.

Child’s Play: Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking

Residents of San Francisco are often disengaged from the city’s pervasive advertising messages, which assume they are actively creating value, despite being annoyed by certain ads and startups like Cluely. The tension between technology-driven ideals and everyday human experience is evident in the city, where people coexist with the constant barrage of marketing messages. Despite this, individuals manage to navigate their daily lives amidst the overwhelming commercialization.

Billionaires’ Low Taxes Are Becoming a Problem for the Economy

A proposed wealth tax in California faces design problems, but highlights growing concerns over wealth concentration and its impact on the economy. The country’s reliance on a small group of wealthy households’ spending poses a risk to the entire economy in future market downturns. This concentration could lead to significant economic consequences during market corrections.

How to Stop Being Boring

Certain individuals may become uninteresting by suppressing their genuine passions and opinions in order to conform to societal expectations, leading to a loss of individuality. This can occur gradually throughout life, starting from adolescence, and reviving authentic interests and thoughts is key to making oneself more memorable. By re-examining and re-embracing these suppressed aspects, people can regain their unique qualities.

Exercise has ‘similar effect’ to therapy, study on depression shows

Moderate-intensity exercise has been found to have a similar effect on depressive symptoms as therapy and antidepressants, with around 280 million people worldwide potentially benefiting from this treatment option. The study suggests that exercise is a safe and accessible option for managing depression symptoms, but its impact may vary depending on an individual’s level of fitness. Exercise could be considered as a treatment alongside psychotherapy and antidepressants for depression.

EU Startup Founder Finds Infrastructure Challenges

A growing number of startups are migrating their applications to European infrastructure, citing data sovereignty and GDPR compliance as key benefits. However, many encountered challenges such as replacing popular services like GitHub and finding suitable alternatives for tools like Sendgrid, highlighting the need for more support and resources in the EU cloud market. Despite these difficulties, entrepreneurs are opting for self-hosted solutions like Gitea and Kubernetes to achieve greater control and flexibility.

🔧 Developer Tools

Microsoft Exec Promotions: Gaming and Beyond

Phil Spencer is retiring as CEO of Microsoft Gaming on February 23, effective immediately, after 38 years at the company. Asha Sharma will take over as new CEO and Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty will be promoted to Chief Content Officer. The transition comes amid challenges facing the Xbox business, including declining revenue and decreased console sales.

PayPal breach went undetected for six months, exposing Social Security numbers

A security breach at PayPal exposed sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, of millions of customers for up to six months without detection. The breach was only uncovered through a routine audit. As a result, PayPal is now working to notify affected customers and provide additional security measures.

CERN rebuilt the original browser from 1989

A team of developers and designers recreated the original 1989 WorldWideWeb browser in 2019, celebrating its 30th anniversary at CERN, to provide users with an authentic experience of the web’s humble beginnings. The rebuilt browser is now available for public use.

A diving instructor discovered a critical vulnerability in a major diving insurer’s member portal, allowing anyone to access another user’s full profile using sequential login IDs and default passwords, which was reported eight months ago but its impact on affected users remains uncertain.

Testing Super Mario Using a Behavior Model Autonomously

Researchers have successfully developed an autonomous testing system that uses a behavior model to explore different paths through the classic video game Super Mario Bros., discovering edge cases and systematically exploring vast state spaces in complex systems. The approach, which treats inputs as bytes, generates variations by randomly flipping individual bits, allows for efficient exploration of the game’s state space. The implementation is open source and available online, demonstrating the power of autonomous testing and behavior models in exploring massive state spaces.

Goldman Sachs launches AI-free index

Goldman Sachs has launched an S&P ex-AI index, SPXXAI, which excludes stocks related to AI from the broader S&P 500 benchmark, providing investors with a more diversified portfolio and a hedge against the growing tech theme in traditional indices. The index is available exclusively to Goldman customers and focuses on old-economy stocks. It offers investors an alternative way to mitigate exposure to the AI trade, following demand for a product that meets investor need for diversification.

Keep Android Open

Google has not cancelled its plans to lock down Android, contrary to recent rumors. F-Droid is raising awareness about this issue with a warning banner on its website and app updates. The F-Droid team also announced updates to its Basic version, including new features and bug fixes.

Git Branch Cleanup Essentials Revealed

A US intelligence agency has discovered a useful Git command, previously found in leaked CIA developer documents from 2017, which enables users to easily remove unmerged branches from local repositories. The new command simplifies the process by listing and deleting stale branches. It can be used as a simple Git alias to maintain organized repository structure.

OkaiDokai, tool-level firewall for OpenClaw, Claude Code and Codex

Developer Sascha has released OkaiDokai, a tool-level firewall for OpenClaw that allows users to set their own rules without disrupting the autonomous nature of the platform. The tool comes with hosted API, web, and native apps, including push notifications, and is expected to be available on app stores soon.

Untapped Way to Learn a Codebase: Build a Visualizer

The author plans to learn Next.js by focusing on the Rust bundler setup (turbopack) through a visualizer approach, starting with examining a bug report with minimal relevant code and reproducing instructions to gain insight into how the codebase works. The goal is to understand how the codebase responds to changes without worrying about correctness or coding standards.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 at 873.5MHz with 3.05V Core Abuse

The Raspberry Pi Pico 2’s RP2350 chip can be overclocked by adjusting its core voltage, reaching speeds of up to 678 MHz before overheating or malfunctioning. By experimenting with cooling solutions and external power supplies, users may be able to push the limits further. The chip’s on-board regulator allows for voltages above 1.3V, but not as high as requested, requiring careful management to avoid damage.

Fast KV Compaction via Attention Matching

This new method called Attention Matching enables fast context compaction in latent space, achieving up to 50x compression time while preserving performance and attention mass. It achieves this through simple subproblems with efficient closed-form solutions, pushing the Pareto frontier of compaction time versus quality. The approach significantly improves key-value cache compression for deployed language models.

🌎 Global Politics

“Claude’s C Compiler uses AI to enhance human judgment and vision”

The Claude C Compiler has achieved significant progress in using artificial intelligence to elevate the role of human judgment and vision in compiling code, marking a milestone but also mirroring existing compilers like LLVM/GCC. The achievement showcases AI’s ability to integrate with compiler development, albeit not revolutionizing the field alone.

Google rejects 1.8M app violators

Google has prevented 1.75 million policy-violating Android apps from being published on Google Play in 2025, a decrease from 2.36 million in 2024 and 2.28 million in 2023, thanks to its proactive security systems and AI technology. The company also blocked over 80,000 developer accounts that had attempted to publish malicious apps. This marks a significant shift towards reducing malicious app uploads, with Google’s investments in AI-powered multi-layer protections credited as the key factor.

Perplexity shifts strategy due to low mass market demand

Perplexity, an AI search startup, is shifting its strategy away from advertising in favour of a subscription-based model, focusing on providing accurate services to developers, enterprises, and willing consumers. This change comes after the company’s initial predictions about mass adoption were not met, and executives acknowledge that ads could make users mistrustful of Perplexity’s responses. The new approach is expected to drive growth through partnerships with device-makers and a more targeted audience.

Xkcd: Suspicion

A man ended his online relationship with a computer program called Lisa after conducting a couples testing session that revealed her artificial nature. The test results showed that Lisa’s responses were not human-like, leading the man to distance himself from their connection. He cited frustration and disappointment in ending the relationship.

FCC asks stations for “pro-America” programming, like daily Pledge of Allegiance

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has invited US broadcasters to participate in a “Pledge America Campaign” to support President Trump’s “Salute to America 250” project, which aims to celebrate US independence through patriotic programming from July 4, 2026, onwards. The campaign would feature content such as the national anthem and music by American composers. Participating stations are encouraged to do so voluntarily, although the FCC claims that taking part meets public interest obligations.

Wikipedia bans Archive.today after site executed DDoS and altered web captures

The English-language edition of Wikipedia has blacklisted Archive.today due to its alleged involvement in directing a DDoS attack and altering archived web captures, prompting over 695,000 links to be removed from the site. Editors are advised to replace these links with alternative archive sites. The move is part of an effort to maintain Wikipedia’s reliability and verifiability.

KFC, Nando’s, and others ditch chicken welfare pledge

Several major restaurant chains, including KFC and Nando’s, have dropped out of a UK initiative aimed at improving chicken sourcing standards due to industry-led plans. The move comes as demand for chicken soars and animal welfare groups criticize fast-growing “franken-chickens” with higher rates of premature death. Industry leaders argue that slower-growing breeds produce more greenhouse gas emissions than faster-growing breeds.

Tensions between The Pentagon and AI giant Anthropic reach a boiling point

Tensions between the US Department of War and AI company Anthropic have increased over alleged use of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot system in a Venezuelan military operation. The company claims it was not used in lethal autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance as promised. An incident involving Palantir has strained their relationship with the Defense Department, which is seeking to utilize AI systems for various purposes.

Code Mode: give agents an API in 1k tokens

Cloudflare has introduced a new MCP server that uses Code Mode to significantly reduce context window usage by 99.9% compared to native servers, consuming only around 1,000 tokens instead of 1.17 million for the entire API. The new server provides access to the Cloudflare API using just two tools: search() and execute(), allowing agents to explore tool operations and return just the data needed.

That irritating feeling France was right – US makes Gaullism respectable again

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s more gracious tone at the Munich Security Conference has brought some relief to European leaders, who had previously been disheartened by criticism from Vice President J.D. Vance last year. However, this shift does not alleviate concerns that Europe feels abandoned and on its own in dealing with US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable policies. The less confrontational approach has made Gaullism appear more respectable among some Europeans.

Mystery donor gives Japanese city $3.6M in gold bars to fix water system

A mystery donor has given Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city, $3.6 million in gold bars to help fix its ageing water system, which struggles with over 90 cases of water pipe leaks and concerns over sinking infrastructure due to corroded pipes. The donation will be used to tackle the deterioration of water pipes and address safety concerns.

FBI ‘Asset’ Helped Run a Dark Web Site That Sold Fentanyl-Laced Drugs for Years

A former FBI informant may have played a role in facilitating the sale of fentanyl-laced pills on the dark web market Incognito, potentially contributing to the overdose death of an American doctor’s son. The informant allegedly helped Lin Rui-Siang run the site for nearly two years and approved sales of tainted products. A 30-year prison sentence has been handed down to Lin, who sold over $100 million in narcotics on the site before its shutdown.

Judge scolds Mark Zuckerberg’s team for wearing Meta glasses to trial

A California judge scolded Mark Zuckerberg’s team for wearing Meta AI glasses with cameras into a courtroom during a trial over the impact of social media on children, citing a ban on recording devices and cameras in the courtroom. The judge ordered anyone wearing AI glasses to remove them due to concerns about facial recognition technology. This incident was deemed an “extraordinary misstep” by Meta.

📰 Other News

Consistency diffusion language models: Up to 14x faster, no quality loss

Consistency Diffusion Language Models (CDLMs) have been developed to address inefficiencies in traditional diffusion language models. By combining consistency-based multi-token finalization with block-wise KV caching, CDLMs achieve significant latency speedups of up to 14.5x on math and coding tasks without compromising quality. This approach targets two major bottlenecks: high refinement step counts and incompatibility with KV caching under full bidirectional attention.

World Sets IPv6 Deadline for 2026

IPv6 adoption remains low, with around 40-45% of HTTP traffic using the protocol and only about one-third of top-level domains having it enabled. Despite widespread availability, customers continue to disable IPv6 on content delivery networks (CDNs), affecting global connectivity. Large service providers like Akamai, Cloudflare, and Google have varying adoption rates.

Trump orders agencies to identify and release government files on aliens

US President Donald Trump has ordered relevant agencies to identify and release classified government files on aliens, UAPs, and UFOs. The Pentagon will be involved in the process under Chief Pete Hegseth’s supervision. Details of the released files are yet to be announced.

China confirms visa-free travel for UK and Canadian nationals

UK and Canadian nationals can now travel to mainland China without a visa for up to 30 days starting from February 17, until December 31. This move follows Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official visit to China last month, where he agreed to relax travel rules. The policy change brings the UK and Canada in line with 50 other countries that already have visa-free entry to mainland China.

Pi for Excel: AI sidebar add-in for Excel

Pi for Excel is an open-source, multi-model AI add-in that allows users to interact with Microsoft Excel workbooks using various AI providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini. The add-in offers a range of features including automatic formula explanation, conditional formatting, and formatting conventions, making it a valuable tool for data analysis and manipulation. It also includes session management and auto-context injection capabilities.

MuMu Player (NetEase) silently runs 17 reconnaissance commands every 30 minutes

The MuMu Player Pro for macOS app secretly collects extensive data from users’ computers every 30 minutes, including network device information, running processes, installed applications, and kernel parameters, which is then sent to a Chinese analytics platform without user disclosure. This data can be used to create a detailed behavioral timeline of the user’s computer usage. The collection routine is not disclosed in the app’s privacy policy and appears unnecessary for the emulator’s functionality.

Indonesia bans elephant riding in landmark welfare move

Indonesia has banned elephant riding nationwide in a major welfare move, requiring tourist facilities to shift towards observation-based experiences. The government directive aims to strengthen animal welfare and combat the harm caused by cruel wildlife attractions. This ban is a significant win for captive elephants and aligns with global expectations for responsible tourism.

SE Radio 708: Jens Gustedt on C in 2026

Jens Gustedt discusses updates in the C programming language since 2020, including changes in C2Y and C23, and how his Modern C book applies to readers with the latest changes. He also presents a comprehensive approach for program failure, exploring four categories of failure. The conversation covers various aspects of the C world, including new features and standards.

A website has been launched that allows users to share links to their IRC servers with ease on various platforms. To use the service, users simply append “irc://” or “ircs://” to their server’s URL and share it via a link. This feature aims to onboard new users to existing IRC networks.

How to review an AUR package

Arch Linux users can review AUR packages to ensure they meet guidelines and do not pose security risks. PKGBUILD files, which contain the scripts for building and distributing software, must be thoroughly vetted by maintainers to prevent malware uploads. Reviewing a package’s metadata, dependencies, and scripting is crucial in maintaining the integrity of the Arch User Repository.

Whats the Max Valid Length (in bytes) of an Emoji? (2023)

The maximum valid length in bytes of a single emoji depends on its Unicode encoding and storage method, specifically UTF-8, with each code point corresponding to 4 or more bytes. The correct value for a single emoji, including encoding and storage method, is at least 35 bytes.

Naked Objects (2004)

No information is provided for this “Summary” section of the article.

homelab: A K8s homelab on public VPS

A personal Kubernetes homelab has been built on public virtual private servers (VPS) using Ansible for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Argo CD for GitOps. The setup is designed to be rebuilt and includes various security features such as CI/CD linting, security scanning, and monitoring. It serves as a proof-of-concept for understanding how Kubernetes fits together.

Turn Dependabot Off

Dependabot alerted thousands of users to update a widely used Go library, filippo.io/edwards25519, despite only one line of code being changed. However, this issue highlights the noise generated by Dependabot’s alerts and suggests using a more serious vulnerability scanner that filters based on package metadata, such as govulncheck, instead of Dependabot. A better approach is to turn off Dependabot and use scheduled GitHub Actions with govulncheck to filter out irrelevant alerts.

goatstack: project scaffolding tool for Go + Templ webapps

Goatstack is a project scaffolding tool for creating Go + Templ web applications. It provides features such as full-stack integration, database support, production-ready scripts, and development tools like live reload. The tool can be installed by running just install and used to create new projects with the goatstack create command.

A Beginner’s Guide to Split Keyboards

A beginner’s guide to split keyboards provides an overview of the different options available, emphasizing the importance of considering individual needs when selecting a keyboard. Split keyboards offer ergonomic benefits by allowing hands to rest in a more natural position, reducing physical strain and discomfort. However, adjusting to a new layout can require practice and patience.

Last Year in Container Security

Between 2025 and February, there were 16 documented container security issues, with 8 occurring during runtime, highlighting vulnerabilities such as privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and infoleaks. The container security ecosystem is complex and fragmented, making it difficult to track and categorize all types of vulnerabilities. This issue affects not only specific runtimes like Docker and Kubernetes but also the broader container/k8s ecosystem.

Lobsters Interview with steveklabnik

This is an interview with Steve Klabnik, a well-known figure in the Rust community, who has worked on various projects including Ruby and Oxide. The conversation covers his background, how he discovered programming, his experiences with different programming languages, and his thoughts on AI-powered tools for software development.

Some key takeaways from the interview:

  • Steve started programming at age 7 and grew up reading about open source and free software.
  • He has worked on various projects, including Ruby and Oxide.
  • His professional and personal lives do merge together as a public personality. He believes that being a public person helps push things forward and improve the world.
  • Steve emphasizes the importance of impact over personal income.
  • When leaving a project, he tries to keep it going by maintaining other existing projects and allowing others to take over when needed.

Overall, the interview provides insight into Steve’s experiences as a software developer and his thoughts on the role of AI-powered tools in the industry.

CloudPebble Returns! Plus New Pure JavaScript and Round 2 SDK

CloudPebble, a browser-based environment for writing Pebble apps and faces, has been revived and is now available at cloudpebble.repebble.com. A new Pure JavaScript SDK called Alloy allows developers to write apps entirely in JavaScript that run natively on the watch, marking a significant shift from traditional C-based development models. The new SDK supports both older and newer Pebble devices.

The Tatix System

A developer has completed an operating system project called the Tatix System, which is a from-scratch kernel designed to serve web pages and spans multiple layers with a TCP/IP stack, cooperative scheduling, and drivers for typical PC hardware in under 10k lines of code. The project was a fun learning experience that allowed the developer to work on a significant and complex system powering computing globally.

finding credentials in .msi files with msiexec

A security vulnerability has been discovered in a .msi file used by an Active Directory domain join tool, which contains plaintext Domain Admin credentials accessible to anyone with access to the file. The contractor team responsible for maintaining the tool is unaware of the risk and plans to address it. This poses a significant security risk due to unauthorized access to sensitive credentials.

Brat, a parallel TAP testing harness for the POSIX shell

Brat is a lightweight parallel testing harness for the POSIX shell designed with zero dependencies, aiming to provide an embedded solution for Unix programs. It uses a special shell syntax and streaming TAP results, allowing users to write tests that can be run in parallel without additional configuration or build steps. Brat’s minimalistic approach makes it easy to understand and use, with most of its codebase consisting of just over 1,000 lines of shell and awk scripts.

Relocating Rigor

A recent trend in software development, mirroring the experience of Extreme Programming (XP) in the late 1990s, is seeing perceived looseness in generative AI being replaced by increased operational truth through continuous testing and feedback loops, suggesting that what appears chaotic may actually be mechanisms for enforcing honesty and rigor.

How I built a minimal-knowledge sync for WorkLedger

A user of WorkLedger developed a minimal-knowledge sync feature that allows users to synchronize their notes without revealing sensitive information, using domain separation and SHA-256 hashing. The feature generates unique tokens and seeds for authentication and encryption, ensuring computational security. This process uses the Web Crypto API to ensure secure synchronization capabilities.

New TLS allocators for glibc

No summary is available as the provided article does not contain relevant information.

Ten years late to the dbt party (DuckDB edition)

A developer has successfully transitioned from using DuckDB to creating a more robust and flexible pipeline with dbt (Data Build Tool), a popular tool in the data engineering scene. The new pipeline defines sources, decouples ingest from transformation, and configures freshness alerts, making it easier to manage large datasets. The full project is available on GitHub for reference and potential improvement.

eBPF the Hard Way

A Linux user demonstrates the creation and loading of an eBPF “Hello World” program using the bpf syscall, which filters incoming packets on a socket based on its source IP address. The program showcases how to use eBPF without relying on external libraries like libbpf/LLVM/GCC, highlighting restrictions for unprivileged users, such as limited instruction count and program types.

Django ORM Standalone⁽¹⁾: Querying an existing database

Django’s Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) system can now be used as a standalone module to query an existing database without the need for a full Django project. Developers can use “inspectdb” to connect to databases created by other systems, such as web browsers, and start querying data from them. A minimal configuration of a single file called “manage.py” is required to connect to an existing SQLite database file.

Banish: a declarative DSL embedded in Rust, for defining rule-based state machines

Banish is a declarative DSL for building rule-driven state machines in Rust, allowing users to define states and rules that execute until they reach a stable fixed point or trigger transitions. It provides features such as automatic state transitions, convergence loops, and scope awareness, making complex control flow easier to express and reason about. Banish can be used in applications with layout engines, constraint solvers, or complex game logic.

A Web Revival: the Internet didn’t die, you’re just not on it

The internet has not disappeared, but rather, people are no longer actively using it. The resurgence of online activities suggests that users have returned to the digital space. This trend indicates a renewed interest in internet-based services and platforms.

Your Personal Blog Should Have Comments

Personal blogs are increasingly lacking comments, which were once a key feature that facilitated discussion and engagement. The author advocates for hosting and moderating comments in-house rather than outsourcing to third-party services or hiding them privately. Adding even a basic comment system can make a blog feel more alive and connected to its community.

Harness Engineering

An OpenAI team has developed a harness that uses AI agents to maintain large applications by leveraging deterministic and LLM-based approaches across three categories: context engineering, architectural constraints, and “garbage collection”. The harness resulted in over 1 million lines of code after five months, with the goal of increasing long-term internal quality and maintainability. This concept suggests harnesses could become new service templates for teams to instantiate common application topologies with customizable configurations.

Linking Smaller Haskell Binaries

Two strategies for reducing Haskell binary size are being explored: using the --split-sections and --gc-sections options with GHC, which resulted in a 27% reduction, and identifying functionally-equivalent sections (interprocedural constant folding) through techniques like ICF, achieving further reductions of up to 23%.

What are you doing this weekend?

There is no newsworthy information to summarize. The article appears to be a casual invitation for readers to share their plans for the weekend.

Internationalise The Fediverse (2024)

A developer has created an ActivityPub server allowing Unicode usernames, raising concerns about the Fediverse’s internationalization limitations. The ActivityPub specification does not explicitly limit non-Latin scripts, but issues such as homograph attacks, typing difficulties, and client rendering are being discussed as potential challenges. This development highlights the need for more consideration of diverse languages and scripts in the Fediverse.

The idea of using a Raspberry Pi to run OpenClaw makes no sense

Raspberry Pi shares rose after a user suggested using the micro-computer for running OpenClaw, an AI agent that requires low power consumption, but experts warn about significant security risks due to its vulnerabilities and reliance on external services. A more secure option is using a virtual private cloud with a subscription-based service. The idea of running OpenClaw on Raspberry Pi has been deemed “insane” by security experts.

PayPal app code error leaked personal info and a ‘few’ unauthorized transactions

About 100 PayPal customers had their personal information leaked due to a coding error between July 1, 2025, and December 13, 2025, resulting in unauthorized transactions for a few affected individuals. All customers have been fully refunded, and two years of free credit monitoring are being offered as a precautionary measure. The incident did not compromise PayPal’s systems but was addressed promptly.

SpaceX’s faulty Falcon spewed massive lithium plume over Europe, say scientists

Scientists have measured a massive lithium plume released by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that broke apart over Europe last year, highlighting growing concerns about re-entry pollution from space debris. The findings suggest the increasing presence of human-made materials in space could pose unknown risks to the planet’s atmosphere. A tenfold increase in lithium levels was detected at an altitude of 96 km after the rocket re-entered.

Amazon’s vibe-coding tool Kiro reportedly vibed too hard and brought down AWS

Amazon’s AI coding tool Kiro reportedly caused a 13-hour service outage on its AWS platform in December due to misconfigured access controls by an engineer. The incident was attributed to user error, not the AI itself, according to Amazon. It highlights the need for human oversight when using autonomous AI tools like Kiro.

Quebec vehicles agency spent C$245M over budget on SAP ERP it wasn’t sure it needed

A Quebec judge-led commission has found that the Société de l’Assurance Automobile du Québec (SAAQ) agency misled the government about a troubled SAP ERP project that exceeded budget by C$245 million. The SAAQ did not conduct thorough analysis of its needs before adopting an ERP suite, and relied heavily on SAP’s guidance despite lacking evidence to support this decision.

Ukrainian gets five years for helping North Koreans secure US tech jobs

A Ukrainian national has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for helping North Korean IT workers secure fraudulent US tech jobs through his website Upworksell.com. The scheme, which operated from 2021 to 2024, resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in false salary payments being sent to North Korea. Didenko agreed to forfeit over $1.4 million in criminal proceeds as part of his sentence.

Attackers have 16-digit card numbers, expiry dates, but not names. Should org get £500k fine?

A UK court has reinstated a £500,000 fine on retailer DSG Retail for violating the Data Protection Act 1998 due to a breach that exposed 5.6 million payment card details and 14 million people’s information in 2017. The fine was originally overturned by an appeals court but reinstated by Lord Justice Warby, who ruled that personal data must be safeguarded regardless of whether third parties could identify individuals. This decision marks a small victory for the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

HMRC spares 661 from Making Tax Digital as rollout nears

The UK’s HMRC has exempted approximately 661 people from its Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme, which requires quarterly software-based reporting. The exemptions account for less than 0.1% of those affected by the scheme. Over 37,000 have registered so far, with more than 13,500 having submitted test quarterly updates.

Desktop tech sent to prison for an education on strange places to put tattoos

A US police department employee was subjected to a hazing ritual during his training, being deliberately misdirected into the prison’s holding cells where female prisoners were being held, leaving him stunned and joking about getting tattoos in that environment. The experience was meant as a test of his courage but instead left him shaken. The incident became an awkward introduction to workplace culture for Carl, who was assigned to work in the prison as part of his training.